Consumer Interest in Non-Touch Gestures Will Increase During & After Pandemic
As the world attempts to navigate the current pandemic, there is a level of unparalleled uncertainty. Consumer behavior is changing in key ways. A new report from the User Experience Strategies Service (UXS) at Strategy Analytics has examined the likely long-term impact of the pandemic on consumer human-machine interface (HMI) preferences. With primary concern relating to interfaces on public devices such as ATMs and petrol stations, convenience will likely be deprioritized in favor of safety, privacy, and cleanliness.
Key report findings include:
- Public touchscreens in contexts such as shared vehicles, rental cars, commercial kiosks etc., could become less desirable if consumers view them as health risks.
- Redesigning of terminals or screen hardware, to incorporate automated sanitary measures: for example automated screen cleaning or replacing a screen protector after every use, could lessen public concern when using high frequency public touch points
- Removal of touchscreens altogether, in favor of a touchless interaction such as voice or gestures could also work to mitigate public safety fears.
Chris Schreiner, Director, Syndicated Research and report author commented,“Consumer interest in non-touch gestures will certainly increase during the pandemic and likely afterwards. Unfortunately, the state of both voice and gestural interfaces in addition to the noisy environments in which these devices are often located make it very premature to expect that they can take the place of a touchscreen and hard controls.”
Added Kevin Nolan, VP, UXIP, “While digital assistants are certainly improving and voice is already trending to become the dominant HMI, there needs to be an even greater focus on improvement of their usefulness, accuracy, and robustness.”
